The Most Unique Facts About Left-Handed People

Did you know that the overwhelming majority of people on the planet are right handed? That is right! Being left handed is just about one of the rarest traits that you can have about yourself, so be proud! With left handedness being such a rare trait there are a host of other little facts lurking about being a southpaw as well. We pulled together the most unique and curious facts regarding left handedness and left handed people!

Only 10% of the world is left handed, and we don’t know why.

If you are a left handed person then you have pretty much struck the lotto when it comes to hand dominance. The facts are pretty clear and pretty amazing: almost 90% of the world’s recorded population is considered right handed. Left handed folks are literally are a rarer type of person! So if you end up being left handed don’t take it as some sort of weird quirk, be loud and proud about it!

Left handed people can transition to being right handed easier than vice versa.

Left handed folks happen to be the work horses of the hand-dominance world (has anyone ever said that before, I wonder) and the facts are out there. When a left handed person injures their hand they end up having an easier time when transitioning to their right hand. Right handed people, despite how common we are, have a much more difficult time transitioning to our left hand. We’re not sure the exact reason why this is.

If you are left handed you run an increased risk of alcoholism!

Left handed people, for all of the positives that we are going to list in this article, actually have a few negatives going for them as well. We aren’t talking about simple problems like issues working through the right weight loss tips, we are actually talking about a few sort of serious problems. Scientific studies show that left handed people are about three times as likely to end up becoming alcoholic! Studies show that the right side of the brain tends to be less tolerant to alcohol. Who knew? Along with alcohol issues you will also see lefties struggle with weight gain, thus sending them searching for the kind of lose weight programs that litter the internet.

Left handed people mature faster, literally!

On average the normal left handed person will reach puberty almost six months earlier than their right handed counterparts. There are a host of scientific studies and theories as to why this is but we aren’t really sure, at the end of the day. To put things into even more perspective, if you are left handed then you are also more likely to be a male. Is there a correlation between male puberty and left handedness?

Lefties have a huge advantage in sports.

In the sporting world left handed players can be absolutely dominant. We aren’t just talking about the beefcakes that fill up NFL helmets every Sunday, we are also talking about other huge sports like baseball, soccer, hockey, and basketball. Left handed players are fundamentally playing the same game in a different way which forces righties to adapt. Left handed players are used to play righties but the inverse is not true.

There is a holiday for lefties!

If you truly think that your left handedness should be celebrated than we have some good news for you. August 13th is considered International Left Handers Day. Left handers get to celebrate their unique trait once a year on a global stage with such stars as Tom Cruise, Jay Leno, Buzz Aldrin and more! We doubt that right handers are ever going to get their own holiday and we’re fine with that. After all, if you only needed car insurance 10% of the time (the proportion of lefties vs. righties) you probably wouldn’t celebrate the days you don’t need it!

Some of the greatest artists in history were left handed.

There is a reason that we tend to link creativity and art with left handed people. While this may be purely anecdotal, the fact remains that many of the greatest artists and musicians in world history happened to be left handed. We can look at people like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Mozart, and Beethoven as just a small sampling of the great artists in the left handed world.

At certain points in time being left handed was actually dangerous!

Human beings are pretty odd creatures and we will look for any reason to ostracize and hate on some people. Did you know that at certain points in world history being left handed could be seen as a death sentence? No, we don’t mean the casual slow burn death sentence of needing to help lose weight because of a propensity for weight gain, we mean ‘witch like’ death sentence. Historians have found that people once associated left handedness with the devil!

I Do.

Ahh love! Did you know that wedding rings are traditionally worn on the left hand because people actually believed that a vena amoris, or a “lover’s vein,” was connected the 4th finger on this hand straight to the heart.

Certain mammals are equally left/right paw dominant.

While humans have an extreme disparity between being left handed and right handed this isn’t the case in certain fuzzy little animals. Cats, mice, and even rats all split their right paw/left paw dominance in just about equal fashion. This means that a cat is as likely to be right paw dominant as it is to be left paw dominant. We can chalk this up to one popular theory: humans force their children to be right handed in order to ‘be normal’.

Left handers are on the extreme ends of the intelligence scale.

When ti comes to intelligence it appears that lefties tend to find themselves on the extreme poles of the scale more often than in the middle. This means that of the 10% or so of left handed people in the world, the bulk of them will be considered closer to genius or mentally impaired than they will be to just ‘average’. Do we know why this is? Nope, scientists can only raise both hands up in a shrug. What we can say is that your yoga teacher is probably left handed, as they tend to be more creatively inclined. That’s a bonus fact!

Left handers tend to be more emotional than righties.

There are more than a few scientific studies out there that show left handers being more prone to emotional outbursts than their right handed counterparts. Scientists believe that lefties work through their emotions in a different way than right handers and this causes a more extreme reaction to occur. Just look at Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch — would a righty ever do that? Nah.

Being left handed can run in families.

While scientists are reluctant to ascribe being left handed to genetics we can clearly see that being left handed can run through families. While it is possible that this is a genetic predisposition it is also entirely possible that lefties teach other lefties what is familiar to them, thus children learn to be left handed when their parents are lefties. One famous left handed line is the British Royal Family — that’s not bad company, is it?

Southpaws.

Southpaws (left handed athletes) make up about 3% of the population in the most peaceful societies, while 27% are found in the most warlike ones. Researchers do believe that in violent societies, left-handers may actually benefit from their unexpected left hook.

Say What Now?

Apparently there are a few sources that claim left-handers may die as many as nine years earlier than those people who are right-handers. That’s just super weird.

Lyft.

Here’s a fun fact. The word left in English actually comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “lyft”, which means weak or broken. Huh.

Twins.

Turns out that left-handedness is twice as common in twins than in the general population. Just like our girls, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Forties.

Mothers who are over the age of 40 at the time of their child’s birth are in fact 128% more likely to have a left-handed baby than a woman who is in her 20s.

Eskimo Legend.

So the Eskimos believe that every single left-handed person is a potential sorcerer. In Morocco actually, left-handers are considered to be a s’ga, which is a word meaning either a devil or a cursed person.

Herbert Hoover.

The 31st President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, is actually believed to be the first left-handed president, although James Garfield could write in Greek with his left hand and Latin with the right.

Jack The Ripper.

Turns out that the Boston Strangler, Jack the Ripper, and Osama Bin Laden were all lefties.

Spanish Inquisition.

This fact is slightly crazy! During the Spanish Inquisition, those who were lefties were far more likely to be tortured.

Kitty.

While approximately 90% of all humans are right-handed; cats, rats, and mice all show that handedness seem to equally split between right and left pawedness.

The British Royal Family.

Left-handedness really does run in the family! Lefties can be found in the British royal family, including the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William.

Known As….

Left-handedness has also been called by other names such as mancinism, sinistromanuality, and cackhandedness. Other idioms include skivvy-handed, scrummy-handed, kaggy-fisted, cawk-fisted, gibble-fisted, southpaw, cunny-and ballock-handed.

Tradition Says.

Here’s a good one! So according to tradition, if you have an itchy left hand – this means that you will lose money. While an itchy right hand means that you will receive money!

Studies Say.

Studies have suggested that those who are left-handers are more talented in spatial awareness, math, and architecture. While those who are right-handers tend to be more talented verbally.

August 13.

Left-handed people have their own day! August 13th is “Left-Hander’s Day.” It was launched in 1996 and this yearly event does in fact celebrate left-handedness and also raises awareness of the difficulties and frustrations left-handers experience every single day in a world that is designed for right-handers.

More Likely.

Left-handers are also, apparently, more likely to be dyslexic and to stutter.

Faces.

Did you know that many left-handed people actually draw figures that face to the right. Interesting!

Outer Space.

If you know anything about outer space or not, here’s an awesome fact for you regardless. One in four Apollo astronauts were left-handers.

Let’s Multitask.

Turns out that connections between the right and left sides of the brain are much faster in left-handed people, which goes on to suggest that left-handers are more efficient multitaskers.

30 Mil.

Somewhere around 30 million people in the United States are left-handed.

Constant.

Researchers believe that the proportion of left-handed people has in reality remained constant for over 30,000 years. Whoa.

Sign Me Up.

Juniata College located in Huntington, Pennsylvania awards up to $1,500 in academic scholarships to any students with top academic records and who are also left-handed.

Tummy Work.

When placed on their tummies, babies who are right-handed tend to turn their heads to the right. While babies that are left-handed usually turn their heads to the left or they don’t show any preference.

Less Than.

Less than 1% of the world’s entire population can actually be considered truly ambidextrous. Those who are able to use their right and left hands equally well.

In Certain Countries You’re Forbidden To Eat With Your Left Hand.

If you ever find yourself traveling abroad you might want to look up what the local culture thinks of left handed people! In certain countries people are expressly forbidden, or at least glared at, when using their left hand to eat. In Islamic countries in particular this is a problem: the left hand is considered unclean and as such should not be placed near food. Be careful reaching for that buffet!

The Incas Believed Lefties To Have Magic!

We’ll cap off our list with a pretty positive fact about left handed people. For all of our talk about devil associations and unclean hands, the Incas thought that lefties were simply magical — literally! The Incas thought lefties were able to heal and the Zuni Tribe thought left handed people brought good luck. Now that’s just nice, isn’t it?

Higher IQs.

Based off a study done in New York, when comparing right-handed people to left-handed people, there are more left-handed people with an IQ over 140. Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin, all lefties, all geniuses.

Marco Polo.

Did you know that lefties can see underwater more easily than righties? So next time you and your friends decide to play Marco Polo in the pool, make sure that Marco is not a lefty — it could could make or break the game.

All About Balance.

A left-handed person can physically balance more evenly between both sides compared to a right-handed person, as righties tend to show more sensitivity to their right side. For instance, righties arms are typically stronger and larger while lefties arms are presumably even in both strength and size. Also, lefties can perform tasks with their right hand easier and better than vice versa.

Prone To Allergies.

Ahchoo! Did you know that left-handed people are more likely to have allergies and/or asthma? We surely didn’t.

What’s One Without The Other?

Okay this (interesting) fact is a tad eerie, but it’s coming from scientific research. So several scientists developed a theory called “Vanishing Twin.” This theory suggests that lefties were originally in the womb with a twin but sadly the twin didn’t survive. Hmm… this one is definitely a head-scratcher.

Ladies!

Did you know that women are much more likely to be right-handed than men by about 4 percentage points? Crazy!